Obituary: Sarah Morris

Homemaker, gardener, volunteer, pet lover, friend to all

Longtime Claremont resident and homemaker Sarah Meier Morris died September 11 in Houston, Texas at the age of 97.

Sarah was born on March 23, 1923 outside Madison, Indiana to Bessie Mae Meier and John Henry Meier.

She was raised on a hilltop farm overlooking the Ohio River, where she developed a lifelong love of animals and gardening. She attended a one-room schoolhouse with “ten or twelve other students at any time” for grades one through six.

She met her future husband, Edward D. “Ted” Morris, on her 16th birthday. They were married shortly after she graduated from North Madison High School in 1941. She also attended the University of Cincinnati.

She worked in various civil service jobs and for the USO in Brooklyn, New York, St. Petersburg, Florida and Seattle, Washington while Mr. Morris was stationed in those cities with the Merchant Marines during World War II. 

From 1946 through June of 1953 she supported her family and put Mr. Morris through college and medical school by running The Cabin, the campus hamburger and malt shop at Hanover College, and working as an assistant in the dietitian department of Children’s Hospital at the University of Cincinnati.

The couple also lived briefly in Galveston, Texas, Celina, Ohio and Arcadia prior to moving to Pomona in 1957, when Dr. Morris joined the staff at Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center. They moved to Claremont in 1962, where she remained for the next 50 years, with the exception of the 1966-1967 school year, when they lived with their children Jill and Bill on a dairy farm outside Deputy, Indiana. She moved to Houston to be near family in 2012 following Dr. Morris’ death in 2005.

She was a loving wife, mother, aunt, grandparent and a friend to all. She loved to cook and entertain her family and their friends, both at home and at the family’s beach house in San Clemente.

She also loved to garden, take care of her pets and serve as team mother for youth sports teams. She was active in the Women’s Auxiliary of the Los Angeles County Medical Association, for whom she sold thousands of fruit cakes to raise money for scholarships.

Mrs. Morris was predeceased by her eight siblings.

She is survived by her daughter Jill Ann Morris and son in law Andrew K. Boszhardt, Jr., of New Vernon, New Jersey; son William D. “Bill” Morris and wife Ellen Sampson Morris, of Houston, Texas; grandchildren Andrew K. Boszhardt III, Alex E. Boszhardt, Paige N. Boszhardt, Edward S. Morris and Henry E. Morris; and several nieces, nephews, and their children and grandchildren.

A family memorial service will be held in Madison, Indiana in 2021. 

In lieu of other remembrances, the family requests that memorial contributions be made to the Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Foundation at www.pvhmc.org/ giving-support/ways-to-give/giving-in-memory-or-honor, or by check to the Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Foundation, 1798 N. Garey Ave., Pomona, CA 91767, or to the charity of your choice.

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